Mosquera was indefinitely suspended by the California State Athletic Commission on November 21st, 2013 as the result of an investigation by lead athletic inspector Mark Relyea (who has all the duties of a Chief Athletic Inspector but isn’t given the salary or authority that comes with that job title). Relyea, who worked as the lead athletic inspector for an All-Star Boxing show on September 20th in Montebello, California, confiscated altered Cleto Reyes boxing gloves that Mosquera had one of his fighters wearing for combat. Lou Moret, the referee, saw the altered gloves on the fighter’s hands and had them removed.

As a result of Relyea’s extensive investigation (aided with the knowledge obtained throughout his many years at the LA County Sheriff’s department as a lieutenant), Mosquera and his fighter received indefinite suspension letters from Andy Foster on November 21st, 2013. Those letters summoned Mosquera and the fighter in question to attend the December 16th California State Athletic Commission meeting in Sacramento. Mosquera did not appear before the Commission in Sacramento. Instead, his hearing was delayed for February’s upcoming meeting in Los Angeles.

While top California officials were in Sacramento for the UFC Arco Arena event on December 14th, Golden Boy hosted an event the night before at Fantasy Springs Resort & Casino for a Fox Sports 1 taping.

On the day of that Golden Boy show (December 13th), a massive document dump was released by Consumer Affairs a few days before the 12/16 Sacramento hearing. That document dump contained the suspension letter sent by the Athletic Commission to Mosquera.

The same day that this document dump (containing the Mosquera suspension letter) was made public, Rodrigo Mosquera appeared at the Golden Boy boxing event in Fantasy Springs. The Golden Boy event was regulated by the California State Athletic Commission. On that very same day, Mosquera showed up at the Golden Boy event to be the chief second for Francisco Vargas.

Licensing shenanigans

On the December 2013 Seconds list published on the Athletic Commission’s web site, Rodrigo Mosquera was not listed as having a valid seconds license. His wife Gloria, however, was listed as having a valid seconds license. On page 91 of the document dump CSAC released on the investigation, Rodrigo Mosquera is noted as “a tenured licensed Second who was Ricardo Rodriguez’s Chief Second.”

So, either he: a) was acting as a licensed second in Montebello and that license expired after the event or… b) he worked the Montebello show without a valid seconds license and acted as a chief second while only having a manager’s license.

This past Friday, the Athletic Commission updated the Seconds list for the month of January 2014. On that Seconds list, it is revealed that Rodrigo Mosquera was given a seconds license to work the Golden Boy show on December 13th, 2013.

Conclusion: On the same day (December 13th) that DCA published their massive document dump revealing Mosquera’s suspension letter from November 21st, Mosquera showed up at the Golden Boy event and was granted a seconds license to work the corner of Francisco Vargas.

One of two scenarios:

Either the athletic inspectors at the show didn’t know that Mosquera had been suspended for last September’s incident because nobody had communicated to them what the Sacramento front office did in suspending Mosquera or…

They granted Mosquera a seconds license despite his manager’s license being indefinitely suspended either because they were told to grant him the seconds license or the inspectors made a judgment call on their own to grant the seconds license.

Whatever the reasoning may be, Rodrigo Mosquera worked the corner of Francisco Vargas on the FS1 taping and was shown on camera during rounds.

Nobody in boxing fears the Sacramento front office

Rodrigo Mosquera made a fool out of Andy Foster and the athletic inspectors that work on behalf of the California State Athletic Commission. It was a complete slap in the face to the regulators who had suspended him for allegedly altering boxing gloves, an act that can get someone seriously injured or killed in a fight. Mosquera’s actions of obtaining a seconds license after he was suspended as a manager by the Athletic Commission is the ultimate sign of disrespect.

This should have never happened. It is absolutely humiliating for the Athletic Commission.

Besides the obvious issues of communication problems between Northern California & Southern California officials, why is someone like Rodrigo Mosquera allowed to obtain a second’s license a couple of weeks after being indefinitely suspended as a manager for being allegedly involved in an incident with altered gloves? The reason this kind of incident happens is because nobody in boxing fears Andy Foster or the California State Athletic Commission. As I have repeatedly stated in previous articles, everyone in boxing is stunned that CSAC has become primarily focused on Mixed Martial Arts. And anyone who watched the December 16th Sacramento CSAC commission meeting (my articles on that meeting are here and here), 90% of the focus was on MMA. Boxing was almost an afterthought.

Many in boxing have taken the Athletic Commission’s lack of interest in boxing as a cue to bend & break as many rules as possible when no one is looking or paying attention. There’s plenty of opportunities for corrupt & wily boxing veterans to work over young, inexperienced regulators who don’t know exactly what to look for when it comes to cheating. The consequences can absolutely be deadly in boxing. There’s a reason combat sports are legally classified as ultrahazarous.

When the veteran athletic inspectors are stretched way too thin in terms of resources and there’s a serious lack of communication between the front office and athletic inspectors out in the field, that’s the kind of environment that empowers the Rodrigo Mosqueras of the world to apply for licenses to work events even after they have been suspended by the California State Athletic Commission.

The only way for the Commission to save face on this matter, besides making proper changes to regulatory protocols, is to throw the book at Mosquera in February. He has showed the Commission zero respect towards their authority. Last December, CSAC gave Mark Relyea an award for his performance as a lead athletic inspector & investigator. Now it’s time, in our opinion, for the Commission to have Rodrigo Mosquera explain why Mark Relyea’s investigation is inaccurate and why Mosquera felt the need to disrespect Andy Foster’s indefinite suspension by applying for a seconds license in order to continue working boxing events. If Mosquera can’t provide reasonable answers to these legitimate questions, then the Commission should revoke all of Rodrigo Mosquera’s CSAC licenses and ban him from further combat sports-related activity in the state of California.

[…] event, he walked in, applied to the commission inspectors on site for a seconds license, and was granted full permission to work Vargas’ corner– despite having been suspended indefinitely by the same […]

[…] trainer Rodrigo Mosquera. Mosquera was suspended in late 2013 for manipulated boxing gloves but managed to work a December 2013 event. Mosquera then went to work a New York fight in January of 2014 while on temporary California […]